The bell rings. Everyone starts packing up, either to go to their club activities or head straight home. She falls into the second group of people, kinda, though she always stops by her favorite arcade for a while to get everything out of her system while she's at it. There's not a lot of people she talked to in this school anyway.
She's just Chiaki Nanami. Someone who isn't anyone special, really. She's just an ordinary girl living out her ordinary school life. She never thought too hard about it, because that's how her life has always been. It might never even change a bit for all she knows.
But then, something happened when she got home. For the first time in a while, her and her parents sat together at the dinner table. She thought that might've been in trouble for being home late again, but then, something else happened instead.
Chiaki still remembered how her mother stared at her in the eye and told her,
"Starting next month, you'll be attending Hope's Peak Academy."
Before she knew it, the normal life she once knew immediately changed.
And now, here she is, standing right in front of the massive gates of Hope's Peak Academy with a small envelope in hand. She glances up at the building; she faintly remembers seeing pictures of the school from a while back, but compared to seeing it in person…
There's something about it that makes her feel so small in comparison. It's like she's about to face a boss fight right at its lair. It isn't just any boss, but it's that one boss that's dreaded by most players.
Her free hand lightly touches over the steel gate. She'll admit this; she was already conflicted about it back then, and now that she's here with the school right in front of her, that lingering doubt has re-emerged at full force in her mind.
'Can I really do this?'
Her eyes turn away from the surface of the school, and before she knew it, she's staring off to the ground once more.
Is someone like her even cut out for a prestigious school like Hope's Peak? She knows she's not anyone special. Her grades were average, she's not exactly a social butterfly among her peers, and she can't recall any noteworthy achievements she did, assuming she ever did something like that, which she highly doubts.
She'll be awkwardly out of place in there, she knows it. The students there are the best of the best among their peers; athletes, superstars, fashion models, or even some that fill in some kind of niche. In fact, she could even say they're on par with celebrities. If she compares herself to them, they're all way above her league.
Chiaki lifts her head, sneaking one more look at Hope's Peak, right before she immediately looks away and off to the distance behind her. She can still turn back from this, she realizes. Walk away from this before getting inside. Pretend that this was all a mistake. There'd be nothing for her to lose if she did that.
'But,' Her grip on the gate tightens. As much as she wants to leave, her feet remain rooted in place. 'What would my parents say if they saw me now?'
She can already picture the looks on their faces when they see her get back home. Her mother's face would be hard for her to read, but then she'd be able to see the look in her eyes that tell her she's never been so let down before and…
Her stomach twists on itself. She knows she already disappointed them so many times. Can she really disappoint them one more time, just like this?
Chiaki turns back to face the gates once more. She pulls her hood over her head, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing."
The gates push open without making any noise. There's no metallic creaks or even a tiny little clang. They must've been maintained really well if they don't creak like normal gates, she inwardly muses to herself. Then again, this is Hope's Peak Academy she's talking about, so it shouldn't be that surprising.
She glances around her surroundings a bit more, tries to swallow any remaining doubt within her, and sets a foot inside.
It takes her a while to get there since the school grounds are so big, but she manages to find out where her classroom is somehow. She checks the nameplate hanging by the door one more time, and after confirming it's what she's looking, heads inside.
As soon as she's in, she can't help but instinctively shrink, walking to the last available seat while trying not to draw attention to herself as much as possible. Not including her, there's at least fifteen kids inside. It's not as many classmates compared to her old schools, but meeting up with this many people at once still feels just as intimidating to her.
Chiaki sits down, putting her bag away, and breathes out a deep sigh. Now that her nerves are slowly wearing out, she curiously looks around her classmates. So far, it looks like most of them are busy chatting with each other.
A few moments pass by, and suddenly, her vision goes blurry. Something is ringing in her ears.
Chiaki blinks, and then groans, clutching at the side of her head. It's hurting a lot now, for some reason. It's like, everything around her is starting to feel…off somehow.
Not a single word comes out of her mouth as she slumps forward on top of her desk.
Everything goes black.
"Hey, hey are you okay?"
"Can you hear me?"
'Huh. That was weird.' Chiaki groggily stirs herself awake, though since she isn't opening her eyes yet at the moment, maybe 'awake' isn't the right word for it. Maybe 'conscious' would fit it better. Oh wait, she's getting kinda off-track. She tries to shift her body a bit, but her limbs feel oddly numb for some reason. 'How long was I out for?'
She's not sure how she got here, or exactly what happened while she passed out. She thinks she might've heard someone talking, but that could just be her hearing things.
As seconds pass on, her mind slowly but surely gets a bit clearer. She tries to open her eyes, only to get hits with a light so bright, she's forced to shut them once again. Was it just her, or did the sun feel a lot brighter than it usually does?
There's also some grainy texture over her skin. It even feels like some bits of it got inside her clothes. It's starting to get uncomfortable. And also really itchy.
'Wait,' A realization dawns upon her. 'Why am I lying down in sand?'
She opens her eyes once more, and by then, her hand instinctively reaches up to shield herself from the sun's unforgivably bright rays. She hears someone talking (was it the same person she heard not too long ago?), only now, she can finally understand what they're saying.
"Oh my, you're finally awake!"
Chiaki tilts her head to the side, looking for the source of the voice, and ends up meeting eye-to-eye with someone, literally. From this view, she can see that he's a boy with fluffy brown hair.
It feels like she saw him from somewhere before, but at the same time, he's also a bit too close for her liking.
"Who are you?" She blankly says.
It's a blunt and pretty straightforward way to get things out, but that's exactly the approach she needs for this situation right now. As far as she knows, she's in the classroom with fifteen other kids, only for her to pass out on her desk for some reason and then end up in the middle of nowhere. With someone she doesn't know.
Better for her to get some answers while she can.
He doesn't seem to look offended by her bluntness, though. "Ah, my apologies." The boy tilts himself back, allowing her to have a bit more personal space. "My name is Nagito Komaeda. I'm the Ultimate Volunteer."
'Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Volunteer. Huh, oh yeah. I'm supposed to be in Hope's Peak now.' Since he introduced himself, she figures she might as well do the same. "I'm Chiaki Nanami."
Komaeda smiles. "It's great to meet you, Nanami!" He says rather happily, only for him to look down and suddenly realize their current situation. "Oh, um, do you need me to help you up? Sorry about that." He offers, reaching his hand towards her.
'Oh, yeah. I still haven't gotten up.'
Letting out a soft grunt, both of her arms go from below her side as she tries to lift herself up. Her arms still feel slightly tingly, but she's able to sit herself up somehow. "I think I'm good." She says, though that reply is a bit late if she thinks about it too hard.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," She nods. "Guess so." Her legs have a tingly feeling to them too as she gets herself up on her feet at last. "I'm fine, I think." She dusts off any remaining sand off her clothes.
"If it's alright with you, can I ask you something?"
That totally came out of nowhere, but she figured there's proably no harm in that. Maybe. Hopefully. "Uh, well, sure. Go ahead." She shrugs.
"I hope it doesn't sound too intruding, but what is your talent?"
"Talent?" She repeats. 'I mean, I guess I'm really good at playing games, but I don't know if that counts as a talent.'
Komaeda looks at her weirdly, and then reiterates his question. "Your Ultimate title, I mean. You didn't mention it, so I can't help but get curious about it." He quickly puts his hands up. "Ah, but if you don't want to tell me, then it's okay, I'm sure you have your reasons."
"No, it's okay, really. I think I'm the Ultimate...um…" She scrunches up her face in thought. 'I've been invited to Hope's Peak Academy, so that means I have an Ultimate title, right? I think I got a letter, but I can't remember what it said. What is my talent supposed to be? Why can't I remember anything about it?'
"Nanami?"
Hearing the volunteer's voice snaps her out of her thoughts, right before she can overthink about that even more. She blinks, and then shrugs. "I'm not sure."
"You're not sure?" Komaeda repeats in a bewildered tone.
"I…don't know what it is. I don't really remember my invitation letter saying anything about that at all." She lamely admits. "Sorry."
His brow raises. "Is that so?"
Swallowing, she finds herself looking away from him. There's a part of her that knows that it's only making her look even more guilty, but she can't bring herself to look at him in the eye as she slowly nods. "Yeah. I wish I knew what it was, but that's all I remember. I'm really sorry about it." She bows her head.
A wide smile slowly stretches over his face. "That's fine. Even if Hope's Peak didn't let you know what your Ultimate title is for whatever reason, I'm sure whatever it is, it must be something really remarkable." He says with a laugh, all while looking like he's even more excited about it.
She raises her head, completely surprised by that. Her eyes slightly widen; she's sure that he'd be suspicious with story, she didn't expect to see him not only believe her, but also take it rather well. Thinking back on what he replied her with, her stomach sinks. 'I'm not sure if I can agree with that, since I don't even know what it is.'
Moving on from that topic, Chiaki looks over their surroundings, to try and see if she can find anything familiar about it. She frowns. 'Aside from the beach, I think, and that airport over there, there's not a lot of landmarks here. I don't think I recognize this place at all.'
Once she figured she's checked their surroundings out enough, she turns to the only other person in this place. "So, Komaeda, right?"
"Oh, yes? Is there something you need?" He says, sounding really eager as he looks back at her.
She's got a lot of questions about what's going on right now, but for now, she decides to stick with the most important one. "Do you know where we are now? I mean, we were in the classroom moments ago." A bit unsure about that, she momentarily turns her head around to check their surroundings again before going back to him. "I think."
"Ah, about that. I'm not exactly sure either, to be honest." He admits with a slight chuckle. "All I know is that Hope's Peak Academy decided to send our class out on a school trip. They never told us the exact destination, though. "
Chiaki stares at him. "Wait, a school trip? On our first day? I don't remember hearing about that."
"If I recall correctly, I think you fell asleep in class, so that might be why you don't remember it." Komaeda shrugs.
'Oh, of course. I guess that might explain some things. But, that still doesn't explain why the school decided to send us out here.'
As she thinks over their weird situation some more, something has struck her. Come to think of it, she's been standing out here in direct sunlight since she woke up at least a few minutes ago. Yeah, she knows her attention span isn't the best, but to think she hasn't even noticed the scorching heat over her arms by now is something else—
Her breath hitches.
'Wait a minute.'
She can't believe she didn't realize it until now. But, now that she felt just a bit of sunlight over her arms, letting her know that something really important to her is gone, she can't help but mildly panic for a moment.
'Where did my hoodie go? Why don't I have it on?' She pats over herself and looks around her surroundings. When she sees there isn't even a little trace of it anywhere, she begins to feel even more frantic about it.
It should've been here. She remembers going to Hope's Peak Academy with it on, she knows she did, and now she doesn't have her hoodie on anymore. Her breathing gets even shakier. Things don't feel right without it. She can't lose it right here.
She feels someone's hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, are you okay? Is there something wrong?"
Forcing her shaky breathing to even out, she takes several deep breaths, and then she shakes her head. "I can't find my hoodie."
"Your hoodie?"
"I remember having it on when I got to Hope's Peak. There's no way I can lose it just like that." Her hoodie's been with her for as long as she remembered. If she somehow lost it on the way here…she doesn't want to imagine that at all.
His oddly soothing voice brings her back to reality. "Can you tell me what it looks like?" He has a more urgent look on his face.
As she pictures her hoodie in her mind, she tries to describe it to him in as much detail as she can. Its color is dark teal, and it has cat ears and pink lines as eyes on the hood part.
After that, Komaeda hums, probably trying to picture her hoodie in his mind based on her description. "I don't think I've seen a hoodie like that before," He turns to her with an determined look. "But don't worry, I'm sure it should be around here somewhere. We'll find it."
Without even thinking about, she lightly raises her hands up. She can't help but feel a bit sheepish as she tells him, "Sorry, I shouldn't trouble you with that. You don't need to do that if you don't feel like it."
"It's okay." He counters while shaking his head. "I'm more than happy to help out an Ultimate in need. So please, let me help you look for your hoodie."
Chiaki goes quiet for a second or so, weighing the options she has for now. 'I don't know. He seems like a nice guy, but other than him being one of my new classmates, I don't know much about him. Is it okay for me to trust him?' She looks over him again, and if she's being honest, he looks so earnest and eager, she feels kinda bad for doubting him. Letting a short sigh, she slightly nods her head. "Okay. I guess it'll be fine."
Komaeda's eyes light up. With a beaming, maybe even infectious smile, he grasps her hands without warning and starts to shake them. "Thank you so much, Nanami!"
Though she didn't show it, she did get a bit startled by that. Still, she shakes her head. "No, I should be the one thanking you, Komaeda. I think."
Chiaki has no idea how long they've been searching around. No matter where they tried to look at the beach, there still isn't a single sign of her hoodie, which now leads them to searching inside this airport terminal. The two of them have decided to split up at the moment to cover more ground. In case if they didn't find anything, they agreed to meet up again at the entrance in around five to ten minutes.
Which now brings her to searching and scanning around for her favorite hoodie.
'Not here.' Her hands rummage through the vacant desks. 'Not here either…'
She groans, frustration now surely getting to her. After deciding that she's already searched that area through, she gets up to look for a different spot and hopefully, she should find it soon. As she walks by, something dawns upon her. She didn't notice it before, but now, it's kinda weird that besides her and Komaeda, the place is empty. Like, 'abandoned area' empty. It starting to make her wonder where the rest of their classmates, assuming they're even here with them too.
But then, since she has something more important in mind, she didn't pay that much attention to it. She'll think about those implications later.
The next thing she knows, she ends up bumping her face into something hard. For a moment, she assumes she must've bumped into the wall, but after thinking about it more, the surface isn't that hard and if it was a wall, it should've hurt a bit more.
In any case, she immediately steps herself back.
From there, she can see that the person she's bumped into is a boy with spiky hair; she thinks she remembers seeing him in the classroom, but she didn't get a good look at him until now. He's, dressed in a plain white shirt with a brown vest over it, dark brown pants, and grayish rubber shoes. If she looks closer, she'd even notice the green tie that's tucked underneath his vest.
But, the one trait that caught her attention the most was the long, kinda weird antenna on his head. Even though it's obviously hair, the very tip of that antenna looks way sharper than it should be. It sounds silly, but she got the image that if she tried to poke it, she might end up pricking her finger.
'What should I say to him?' Chiaki should've apologized and bailed out of there as soon as she could; that's how she always handled situations like this. But now, for some reason, there's something that's keeping her in place.
With neither of them saying anything or making a move, both of them end up stuck with staring at each other awkwardly, with at least a meter of distance between them.
It feels like a decent amount of time has passed by in complete silence. The boy is the first one to break the silence with a still-awkward, "Hey, uh." while stepping forward with a raised arm.
Her heart skips a beat. Without even thinking, she finds herself stepping back with wide eyes.
The boy immediately stops, probably thinking he might've scared her off. "Er, I'm sorry." He apologizes, lowering his head. He then steps himself back a bit, giving her at least a meter away in space.
Chiaki has no idea what to do after hearing that. She bites her lip, resolving herself to look back at the boy in the eyes. She tries to tell him, "Hey, it's okay—"
The rest of those words end up getting cut off by a certain someone.
"Oh my, could it be?"
Both of them turn to the source of that voice, and sure enough, there's Komaeda running up towards them.
For some reason, Komaeda looks really excited, and by that, she means really, really excited, even more than a normal person should be, He's even got the biggest, giddiest, and goofiest grin she's ever seen on anyone. She might even say he looks like he's hyperventilating so much, he might as well pass out right then and there.
She…doesn't get it. At all.
"Are you Hajime Hinata?" Komaeda calls out to the other boy, all while looking like he's the happiest guy on Earth right now.
Hinata, assuming that's his name, freezes up on the spot. He blinks, looks really confused for a split second or so, and then he points at himself. "Oh, uh, you mean me? I'm sorry, do I know you?"
Komaeda doesn't answer that. Instead, he practically sprints towards him and wastes no time clasping the other boy's hands in his own. "It is you! I feel so honored to finally meet you in person! You must be the Ultimate Counselor, right?"
While Komaeda's handshake was surprisingly fast and lively for a guy of his build, Hinata's was…well…his arm looks so stiff while he's trying to keep up with the other boy's handshake, it might end up snapping off.
Hinata sheepishly grins and then chuckles. "You're giving me too much credit. I don't think I'm that famous."
"Oh please, there's no need to be so humble about that, Hinata." Komaeda counters with a slight giggle.
"Huh…" Her eyes glance over from Komaeda, and then onto Hinata.
By then, Komaeda has already broken his handshake with Hinata. He turns to her direction; the previously enthusiastic look on his face quickly changes to that of a heavily confused one. "Oh, I'm guessing you don't recognize Hinata?"
She sneaks a glance at him, taking his features in, and then shakes her head. "No, I think this is the first time I've seen him," After taking another look at the boy in question, she also adds, "Or heard of him, actually."
"I guess that's understandable," Komaeda shrugs. "He's not really as well-known as other Ultimates, and if I remember correctly, only a couple of people mentioned him at the forums."
"Forums?" She asks.
Komaeda blinks, and then clarifies once more for her. "The official forums of Hope's Peak Academy, I mean."
'So even Hope's Peak Academy has forums dedicated to that kind of thing. I don't know why I'm even surprised.' She muses to herself.
"Ah, I can't believe I almost forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Volunteer," Komaeda gestures an arm towards her. "And that's Chiaki Nanami…" He pauses for a moment. "She told me that her invitation didn't mention what her talent is. Oh, but I'm sure whatever it is, it must be something truly amazing."
After hearing that, Hinata looks at her with a raised brow, before slowly nodding. "Uh-huh." is all what he ends up saying.
She can already tell Hinata's probably suspicious of her; she supposes she can't exactly blame him for it, since it does sound unbelievable. Oh well, at least Komaeda didn't seem to pick up on that, since he's practically vibrating with excitement over meeting an Ultimate. She…still doesn't get the big deal about it.
"Anyways," Komaeda turns his attention back to the counselor. "It's an honor to meet you, Hinata." And for good measure, he shakes his hand one last time.
Hinata scratches the back of his head, awkwardly replying with, "It's nice to meet you two, too."
"So, Hinata." Chiaki calls out.
"Hmm?" He turns to face her. "What is it, Nanami?"
It might be just her, but Hinata looks unusually tense for some reason. She figured that's something she shouldn't pry into, at least for now. She gets right to the point and asks him, "Have you seen my hoodie around here?"
Hinata blinks. He must've been surprised by how forward, and maybe a bit tactless, she was in asking that. "Your hoodie?" He repeats.
"I'm helping her look for her hoodie," Komaeda helpfully mentions, giving a better context for the counselor. "She told she came to Hope's Peak while wearing one, but it was lost when she got here."
Chiaki proceeds to tell Hinata what she told Komaeda, describing her lost hoodie to him. At the end of that, Hinata shakes his head. "I haven't seen it either. I'm sorry."
She lightly bows her head, trying not to sound disappointed as she says, "Oh, okay, thanks anyway."
"Wait," Hinata raises a hand in front of her. "If you don't mind, I'd like to help you look for it, too."
She repeats that in her head, trying to process it altogether. "You will?"
Hinata nods. "Yeah. I'd be happy to." There's a smile on his face after he said that.
She...isn't exactly sure how to feel about this. These people barely know her, and yet, they're willing to go out of their way to help her with her problem. Still, she can't help but reply to him with a tiny smile. "Thank you, Hinata. I'm really glad you want to help."
Komaeda starts chuckling. It sounds a bit soft, but it's definitely there.
"Is there something funny, Komaeda?" Hinata narrows his eyes at the other boy. He sounds kind of annoyed when he said that.
"Ah, it's nothing. It's just that, after seeing you offer help to her without a second thought like that," Komaeda chuckles once more. "It feels like I'm watching a new kind of hope bloom from you two."
Hinata goes red all over. "It's nothing like that!" He protests while he waves his arms around.
Chiaki tilts her head in confusion. Judging by his reaction, Komaeda's probably teasing him, but, she doesn't get exactly where he's going with that. So, she turns to the guy who's being teased and asks him, "Hinata, what does he mean by that?"
"He's just messing around. It's nothing you should think too hard on." Hinata replies, maybe a bit too quickly.
"Your sense of humor is exactly as I've imagined it to be! I feel truly honored to be at the receiving end of it."
"Komaeda, please keep quiet for a moment."
While the two go back and forth with that, Chiaki calls out to them, or at least, tries to. "Hey, uh, you guys?"
Hinata turns to her, breaking up his brief banter with the other boy. "Oh, yeah. I think we definitely should get moving right now."
Since there's nothing else to be seen here, they figured they should check out the rest of…wherever this place is. As the three of them walk out of the airport, she sneaks a glance at the two boys.
'I still have no idea what's going on or why we're here on a school trip, but I hope I can find it back soon. I really want my hoodie back.'
A/N: Whew, finally got this little thing out! I swear, it was tougher than I expected, but I think I'm glad with how things are turning out so far. As for the update schedule, well, I don't have anything concrete about it just yet, but it shouldn't be that long, hopefully.
With those things out of the way, I think I'm going to have so much fun in this, hehehehehe.